“I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night.” “I need to get to bed sooner.” “I just can’t wake up in the morning, and I’m not a morning person.” We often think of sleep as a debt to be paid to some mysterious collector. Sleep evades us when we most want it and won’t let […]
The health benefits of darkness
Our apps tell you when to avoid light because light exposure is the number one input to your body’s circadian clock (which regulates sleep, metabolism, immune response, DNA repair, physical performance and more). Light at some times speeds up your clock and helps you fall asleep faster, while light at other times can slow down […]
What really helps you go to sleep
Don’t use your phone before bed! Turn off overhead lights in the evening! Block blue light as you wind down! There are tons of recommendations out there for helping you get to sleep at night that deal with light and technology, and—spoiler alert—I think they’re right on the money. But missing from the standard advice […]
How to avoid bright light and why we recommend it
Imagine you’re on a boat. This boat has a sail, which you can put up or pull down. You’re on the ocean, and you’re trying to get to the sweet, sweet island of sleep. You can control the boat’s sail as much as you want. The only problem is: you can’t control the wind. But […]
My New Year’s (Circadian) Resolution
Although circadian rhythms are being recognized more and more for their relevance to jet lag, shift work, the grogginess people feel after daylight saving time transitions, and health and medicine at large, it’s still a long way behind sleep in entering popular discourse. People know “8 hours a night,” but they don’t know “align your […]
How to beat jet lag
Ah travel—booking tickets, hopping on a plane, immersing yourself in a new locale, and…feeling more tired than you’ve ever felt before. Jet lag is our name for all of the circadian disruption—and subsequent fatigue—that comes from traveling and changing time zones. While we can’t help with the physical toll being in an airplane seat for […]
Sync your batteries, Shift your awareness
When are you most productive? Are you an early bird, a night owl, or somewhere in between? Your prime productivity window each day may be different from mine, and it may even shift during your lifetime. For example, my current prime productivity period is from roughly 9am to 12pm each day, but ten years ago […]
The Future of Circadian Rhythms in Healthcare (Chronomedicine)
Sleep is heavily influenced by your circadian rhythms, but it’s not the only function in your body that falls into that category. In fact, circadian rhythms govern almost every process our body carries out over the day, including metabolism, immune response, DNA repair, and physical performance. One topic that’s been getting a lot of buzz […]
Interview With Bharath A.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning! Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your research interests? I am currently a theoretical and computational chronobiologist. I work in the area of circadian clocks. My PhD was in the field of wireless communications with a focus on designing new technology to provide […]
Running the numbers on health care shift workers
At Arcascope, we’re focused on helping shift workers get more sleep and feel better with circadian-specific interventions. In particular, we’ve spoken to a lot of shift workers in the healthcare industry about their experiences working nights. A lot of the lessons we’ve learned are echoed in this recent survey we ran with 218 nurses who […]